Eyes Wide Open (2009)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Good concept, poorly executed.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I accidentally came across this film. Being sick, and at home from work. At the sofa watching daytime telly, this film was shown. I was totally drawn to this simple, strong tale about love between to men. I rarely see so honest and well done films like this, and extra special that it is a film from Israel. They are seldom, at least in my country. I won't give anything away from the story. It is very powerful, in it's simple and quit way. Very strong performances from the actors, and it shows strong emotions, and a hopeless love affair, that the environment just won't allow. I surly will check out more films from Israel after this very good drama. I recommend it. Maybe it should be shown in schools too, in a educational purpose?

take a walk on the wild side in Jerusalem with this moody little tale. Just a hint of penis but a scud missile may be hiding behind every zipper. the sub titles wont get in the way of you dozing off or making dinner reservations. spoiler alert... there's a lot of meat in this butcher shop. i doubt i would have tried a movie such as this normally but due to the available on NETFLIX option during the free trial month,stepping outside the box becomes more frequent. the acting was acceptable to me because of lack of knowledge about how people normally act in this culture. Viewing customs in close nit neighborhoods on the other side of the world added an unexpected educational touch.

Einayim Petukhoth - EYES WIDE OPEN – CATCH IT ( B- ) Einayim Petukhoth is my first ever Israeli movie so, I was quite psyched about it. The movie starts off quite strong and I was stunned how strongly the Jew Culture was presented in the entire movie. (To be honest Being a Muslim its kind of made me Guilty). Later on movie got really slow and when Aaron falls for Azri, it was never showed in a lot of words what they actually feel about each other? is it love or just Lust? And why Aaron became so Oblivion that he doesn't care when posters against him were pasted all over the city? Plus he refuses to kick Azri out from his Butcher house too. These things were did put pressure on me as a viewer but somehow till the end I didn't understand what exactly Aaron was thinking? He is the father of four kids for God's Sack. Though the material was controversial but lack of Communication/Feelings between Aaron & Azri was my biggest problem with the movie. So in the end it was just passable for me. Zohar Shtrauss, Ran Danker and Tinkerbell were exceptional in their parts, no two words about that! In my final words watch it for the taboo topic in very strong cultural setting & great performances BUT it's not a master piece.

Unfortunately, as in many films coming from Israel there are deep flaws in the making of the film. For some reason the Israeli film industry loves to make films focusing on the Orthodox community and setting up a rather bland love affair between two religious men - well it becomes so ordinary and so expected. There is nothing interesting, no drama, no dynamics, no ups and downs. All that talent and it goes nowhere. The acting is poor, and I blame that on the director. I'm not sure what the point of the story is. Forbidden love? Of course it is forbidden but this is not a love story. And in many ways too unrealistic to even give it any weight.I feel bad that with some much talent in Israel, in all aspects of film making so few really good solid films are actually produced. Instead, just because it is about homosexuality and set in the Orthodox community every one gets a bit excited! But it has nothing to do with film making.